Good Outweighs The Bad
by idjitsandpie
Summary: Peter Parker knew he couldn't keep up covering his identity around the other Avengers for too long but he'd hoped to evade the inevitable. Being a 16 year old Avenger is hard. At least he has Tony on his side, not to mention the God of Thunder. And who would want to argue with that guy?


**A prompt I filled for the kink meme I hope you'll enjoy. I seem to get too much of my inspiration to write from that place!**

/

"He's sixteen, Tony," reiterates Bruce. He figures this point would be sufficient but Tony stands there with his arms crossed, waiting for something more. "I don't think he's ready to fight villains who have a lifetime of experience."

"And what do you want him to do exactly, go to his school talent show and crawl around on the ceiling? He wants to ihelp/i. Why not let him?"

Neither of the scientists appear to want to budge. Tony throws his hands up and looks at the other Avengers who are in different degrees of protest.

"I do not see a fault in letting the Web Slinger continue battling. He has proved himself useful many a time before we knew of his youth," Thor speaks. "On Asgard we are trained from the time we can walk."

"But why should he have to fight?" says the spy. "He has a choice. Maybe I didn't, or you didn't, but he does. He's made a name for himself but no one knows that Peter Parker is Spider-man. If he went back to highschool-"

"After all he's experienced you want to send him back to listening to a teacher who only hopes to be half as intelligent as he is," scoffs the billionaire. "You're blinded by his age. Which is nothing! At sixteen iI/i was at MIT."

"Did you fight other worldly beings and risk your life on a daily basis?" This time its Steve who speaks, clearly not amused by putting a minor in what he perceives to be harms way. "He may have powers but he doesn't have to be put in danger."

"Whatever happened to the fighting spirit? You didn't stop when people told you no. You're being so hypocritical right now Rogers. He held his own against Mad Thinker and his toys. I don't think he needs to go to school then head home to watch some cartoons."

"He does need to go to school," Bruce interrupts.

Tony rolls his eyes. "Yes, thank you for the PSA."

"He shouldn't give up his childhood for the sake of being a hero," Clint adds but it's all he says. He doesn't seem to agree with this either.

"I don't think any of you have asked him about his childhood. He probably had some things which caused this spidey crap. It didn't happen in a vacuum. Instead of dismissing him _talk_ to him. He's helped Bruce and I with experiments in the lab and let me tell you he has a bigger vocabulary then a normal teenager."

"You're really not going to let this go are you," Steve observes.

"My Tower. My rules." He doesn't verbalize just how much he loves being able to pull this move out of his pocket. "As long as it says Stark on the outside he has a room here."

"He is a mighty warrior of Midgard," loudly says the God of Thunder. "I say we are fortunate enough he has not been pulled in by darker forces with false promises of power."

"Yeah what the big guy said." They all glance over to see Peter who apparently got fed up of not being in the conversation, taking it upon himself to climb through a duct, and now hangs upside down from the ceiling. He's still in full costume minus the head cover. "Did you really think locking the door would deter me, that'd I'd try to turn it and go 'aw, shucks, better luck next time!'"

He drops onto the floor and looks at his friends. Atleast, he thinks they're still his friends. Some of them can't seem to get past his youthful face. In fact when Clint had been the one to walk in on him without his mask on he'd shouted "Are you _twelve_? Holy shit."

"I know I'm pretty but looking at me isn't going to make me of legal age," says Peter, picking up a test tube off the counter and tossing it between his hands. "I'm still me, guys. I can still kick ass. I don't need you to protect me."

"We're trying to figure out whats best for you," Natasha responds. "You've fought great Peter, we're not trying to say that's changed-"

"But that _is_ what you guys are arguing," Peter counters. He looks at Bruce, directing his next comment at him, "what happened to my 'brilliance', Bruce? You should know what it's like to be doubted for being so smart at a young age."

Bruce hesitates, as though he's not quite sure how to phrase his next sentence. "I don't think you're any less brilliant. I'd like for you to have a choice though. Not a lot of us here did."

"What? Be normal?" Peter throws the test tube up in the air and shoots a web so it sticks to the ceiling. "That'd either go over really well at parties or I'd get labeled a freak. Atleast here I'm helping."

There's a silence in the room which makes everyone uncomfortable. None of the questioning Avengers can deny Peter has helped. They know he has but for the whole time he deceived them about his age and they put a minor in harms way. They can see why he lied about his age initially to get entrance but now they know his true identity and full name it's hard to get past his youthful appearance.

Bruce, for one, wants to keep him inside the tower. Spider-man has made enemies and he'd hate to see a kid get hurt if he can help it. Natasha and Clint are on the same wave length as Dr. Banner. Meanwhile Steve is mulling over the point Tony made which he has to admit has some validity. Why should they stop someone who really wants to help people if they're capable?

Tony breaks the silence. "Don't worry, we're not kicking you out kiddo."

Peter groans. "Oh come on. Just because you know my age now doesn't mean you have to call me 'kiddo'."

Of course his resistance only gives Tony more incentive to playfully poke fun at him. "That's the rules. Do you want me to cut up a PB & J for you? Tell if you want crust or no crust, I think you're old enough to handle that monumental decision."

"Okay _mom_."

Tony looks around the room. "We done here?"

Steve nods. "We are glad to have you with us, Peter. Just know that."

"I'm glad to be here Cap," Peter replies with a smirk.

/

There are subtle changes in how some of the Avengers react to him now. He's not stupid, he can see it. Natasha has become more of a helicopter, checking on him and often gravitating towards him in battles. In fact most of them seem to be watching him more during battles as though his age correlates with how well he can fight. Not to say he's the best - far from it - but he's not about to trip over a rock and cry about it.

It's nice to have them on his side though. To have people looking out for him. Since he hasn't had that as a constant in his life it's nice but mostly annoying. Peter can look out for himself thank you very much.

Some small things do matter though. Like how Clint said he could teach him how to aim better and hit moving objects more often.

"I'm not trying to knock you stop looking at me as though I took a bite out of your ass," Clint had said before Peter could respond. "But if I've got it right your web shooters are a lot like my arrows. I'm not too shabby at hitting a moving target, if I do say so myself. I'll help you work on it."

They have J.A.R.V.I.S toss large objects at different distances from across the room and Peter does his best to impress Clint and hit them. It's about 50/50.

"I'm always able to get where I want to go. I never miss the part of the building I want," lamented Peter, feeling as if he'd embarrassed himself on the first day.

"Probably because that's life or death. You miss and you're going to get acquainted with asphalt for the first and last time. Concentration and knowing angles is a big part of it. You'll get the hang of it."

They go at it for days. It actually doesn't take Peter too long before he can hit almost every object. After this accomplishment Clint announced they're moving to small objects, like baseballs.

"You're a little leaguer, Parker. I feel as though we should take pictures and hang them on Stark's fridge."

Peter sneers at him but Clint only chuckles.

/

Bruce knows Peter is upset with him. Only thing is he's not sure what to do about it. He can apologize but he doesn't think the teen will accept it, so instead he opts to try to engage in casual conversation as a way of saying "I'm sorry and I accept you."

It isn't until two days after a battle with a villain that Peter comes into his lab saying, "Can you get Hulk to lay off?"

Bruce stops what he's working on to address this. "I don't know what you mean."

"I _mean_ that when I'm fighting to not come in and do it for me."

"He probably only meant to save you the trouble," responds Bruce. He's confused as to why The Other Guy would do something like that. He's never really shown much preference for any other team mates although he thinks 'Tin Man' is amusing enough. "He kind of likes to bash whatever is in his way."

"He said 'Spidey small'. That's all he said."

"Compared to him I'm sure you _are_ small."

Peter laughs at this. "Yeah, I guess so."

"You should be so lucky, Peter. The Other Guy doesn't show sides very often or so I'm told."

"Do you think he'll beat up some jerks at my school for me?"

Bruce smirks. "Only if you want your whole school to go down with them."

"I wouldn't mind. Being a Avenger and balancing homework is more difficult then you'd think." Peter sits across from Bruce at the work table. He adds, "It's kind of hard to maintain friends when you can't invite them over. 'Hey, you want to come to Stark Tower? We've got two assassins, a Hulk, a god, a patriot from the 40's and a smart-ass.'"

"You forgot Tony."

"Ha, ha."

"But really Peter you should go out with friends. Forget about being a Avenger for one night."

Peter shrugs.

Turns out though that he does value Bruce's opinion because a week later, when Bruce asks Natasha why Peter isn't around, she says he went to go see a movie with Harry. It makes him feel perhaps he's been forgiven after all.

/

"I've heard teenagers like to mope but this is ridiculous. Or maybe you're part cat. You still hiding things from us? A feline genetic mutation with a spider would be pretty cool, gotta say."

"Oh shutup."

Peter doesn't take off his mask, a sure sign he doesn't want to talk. Iron Man doesn't have to ask him to do it to see he's pissed off. He sighs and while still hovering next to him at the top of Stark Tower, he has his mask pull back so Peter can atleast see him.

"If you want to be like one of us, Peter, you've got to deal with things like an adult."

"You mean like how you and Cap shout at eachother?"

"You know how old he's getting he might have wax build up."

Peter snorts. He positions himself so he can comfortably look up while still hanging upside down. It's something he's mastered over the while he's had the web shooters.

"You're not doing yourself any favors by not telling us what's going on," Tony reminds him. "You were fine in that fight a couple days ago. You held your own. What gives?"

"I . . . I saw a kid. In the street." Tony's heart begins to sink with every word. Peter isn't looking at him in the eye any more either, instead off into space. "He got hit with rubble. I didn't have time to save him. Someone rushed over to him but it wasn't enough. I know her, Tony, she goes to my school a-and that was her little brother. And, it's just-today, at school, I couldn't look at her. I didn't ask how he's doing because I can't."

"There will be casualties sometimes, Peter. Things get out of our control no matter how diligent we are." Tony watches as Peter climbs up the side of the building to get to the very top. He joins him in standing on the top of Stark Tower. "Think of all the people you've saved. Piledriver and his lackeys are back where they belong because of us."

Peter takes off his mask and holds it tightly in a fist. "I want to save as many as I can."

"Which can't include everyone."

The teen asks quietly, "How do you deal with it?"

"Besides drinking? Usually reminding myself of those who've thanked me personally and how grateful they are. It doesn't always work but it's something." Tony puts a comforting hand on his team mates shoulder. "The good outweighs the bad, I promise you."

Peter smiles and nods. The pain hasn't gone away completely, he doubts it will for a while, but the other Avengers are always there to remind him of the good they're doing and the good they'll continue to do. And he couldn't be happier to be apart of this team.


End file.
